Combined shelf-guard and advertising medium.



PATEN'TED SEPT. 15, 1903.

t No. 738,788

, E. FRANK.

' COMBINED SHELF GUARD AND ADVERTISING MEDIUM.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 8, 1903.

30 MODEL.

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I UNITED STATES latented September. 15, 1903.

PATENT ()FFICE.

- EMIL FRANK, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO FRANK TEA & SPICE COMPANY, OI CINCINNATI, ()HIO.

com amen SHELF-GUARD AND ADVERTISING MEDIUM.

SPECIFICATION forming part Letters Patent No. 738,788, dated September 15, 1903.

' Application filed June 8. 1903. $erial No. 160.625. No modelfi 1'0 (Z6 Ill/1073b it may concern;

Be it known that I, Eula- FRANK, a citizen ofihe United States, and a resident of Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State a i 5 of Ohio,-have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in a Combined Shelf-Guard and Advertising Medium, of which the fol lowing is afull, clear, and exact description,

reference being bad to the accompanying r0 drawings, which form a part of my specification.

The purpose of my invention isto provide a device which is intended for use as a guard for articles or bottles placed on shelves, my

. intention being to provide such a guard which will not only be very eilicie'nt but at the same i time be simple in construction and which may be readily applied to any shelving to which it is desired the same shall be affixed. It will be readilyunderstood, of course, thata device of this kind while it is preferable that it should be of light material must also possess the requisite strength to sustain the weight of such articles as are generally placed on i shelving of stores at such time when these 0* as a guard for the packages or bottles placed on the shelving I construct the guard in such a manner that it may also act as an advertising. medium, the guard being preferably con- 7 structed of thin strips of metal of any width As illustrated in the drawings, the metallic strips are so arranged as to present asurface adapted to receive any desired inscription, the inscription being either placed thereon by stenciling, stamping, or in any of i a'othe other well-known methods. Itis thus apr thereof being "broken away, illustrating my improve nent secured to several shelves upon iwhich some bottles orpackages have been placed. Fig. 2 isasectional view of the shelving and my improvement, taken on the line 5b; w. x, which view illustrates the eifect of my improved guard when bottles'orpackages to Like letters of reference indicate identical parts in the various figures.

A A are any ordinary shelving arranged to suit the convenience of the user, secured to which in a suitable manner is myimproved guard, which I shall now describe.

My improved guard comprises the horizontal members a a, which may be of any desired length, the length being regulated by the needs and desires of the user. By that I mean that the guard may be of the entire length of the different divisions of shelving or not, depending upon'the quantity of articles shelved. I have illustrated'the guard as provided with two of these horizontal members, the one being in the same plane with the shelving, while the other is at a sufficient height above the shelf to answer the purpose for which itis intended. These horizontal membersa a are riveted or otherwise secured to the-upright members or standards b, which are preferably provided with right-angular extensions or feet 0 c and these extensions provided with openings therethrough for the reception of a screw or other means for fastening them to the shelf. I have shown the uprights in Fig. 2 fastened to the upper side of the shelving, having the lower horizontal member a fastened to these uprights or standards in such a manner as to extend a trifle below the feet of the uprights and to come adjacent the edge of the shelving. This is one form of construction that'may be employed. It may, however, at times be found desirable to fasten the uprights to the bottom side of the shelving, in which case I secure the lower horizontal member to the uprights at a point so as to bringits bottom edge flush with the lower edge of the uprights, Fig. 3.

As I have stated before, I prefer to construct my improved guard of strips of metal and so secured together as to prgvide a displayed surface or face, preferably on the horizontal members, upon which may be placed any desired advertising matter, as illustrated in the drawings.

It is of course understood that the uprights or standards b b must possess the requisite bottles.

stiffness that should the weightof any article which has been placed on the shelf, such as bottles and packages such as are usually found in groceries and the like, be thrown against the guard the uprights will have sufficient strength to prevent the-displacement .of the upper horizontal member,and thus hold the bottles or packages on the shelf.

Considerable difficulty has been encountered in places where bottles of the style and shape-generally employed for retaining flavoring extracts and the like are used, these hottles of course being packed or placed on the shelving, and quite a lot of damage has occurred by these packages or bottles falling from the shelving at times when the grocer or party was selecting from among the lot of To" overcome the difficulty that I havejust spokenof and prevent, the damage, grocers have frequently tied strings at a sufficientdistance above the shelf or shelving;

but this has been found very undesirable,-

first, by reason fohits appearance, and secondly, these stringsare constantly tearing and becoming nn'fastened, and thus in a sense makingthe condition worse than before in that the grocer oruser relied upon this Wouldbe safeguard which would fail at the time when it was especially required. I With my,

improved guard this diificulty will be obviated and after being secured in placejcan constantly be relied upon. In addition to this advantageis the advantage of-the facility it provides for suitable inscriptions, which are thus put in a very prominent place and constantly before the eyes of the customers.

I'have stated that I'preferred to construct vstantially in the mannershownand described. 2. A metallic shelf-guard comprising one my improved guard of metaLthQugh of course other material may be employed; but.

' What I wish to claim as my invention and,

secure by Letters Patent isl 1. A shelf-guard comprising one ormore horizontal members, and two or more uprights orstandards, the members and uprights being secured together, and the uprights provided with right-angular extensions whereby the guard may be secured to the shelf, subwith right-angular extensions, said exten-- sions having openings therethrough for the passage of the fastening medium, said horizontal members being so constructed and secured to the uprights in such a manner as to provide a display-face adapted to receive any advertisement, substantiallyin the manner and for the purpose described.

EMIL FRANK. Witnesses: V

JOSEPH R. ,ROHRER, GEORGE HEIDMANU 

